Overhead railway switch and crossing.



H. H. TUNIS; OVERHEAD RAILWAY SWITCH AND CRO$SING.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-11. 19Q9.

Patented Apr. 19, 1910.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

IN VEN TOR.

WI TNESSES A TTOR NE YS ANDREW GRAHAM co. PNDTO-LITHOGRAPHERS.WASHINGTON o. c.

I H. H. ums. OVERHEAD RAILWAY SWIT GEAND CROSSING.

APPLIUATION IILED JAN. 11, 1909.

Patented Apr. 19, 1910.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

, IN VENTOR.

VZJ/Q I l A A WITNESSES ATTORNEYS mnntw B, GRAHAM coFNOTO-LITNOGRAPHERS. WASHINGTON. D c.

H. H. TUNIS. OVERHEAD RAILWAY SWITCH AND CROSSING. APDLIGATION FILEDJAN. 11. 1909.

955,228. Patented Apr. 19, 1910.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

WITNESSES: 11v VENTOR.

A TTORNE Y6 V mnazw a mum cov momumqanunzna WASHXNGYON B- HOWARD H.TUNIS, OF BALTIMORE COUNT Y, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR T0 AMERICAN MONOBAILCOMPANY, A CORPORATION OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

OVERHEAD RAILWAY S'WITCH AND CROSSING.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Hownnn H. TUNIs, a citizen of the United StatesofAmerica, residing in the county of Baltimore, State of Maryland, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Overhead RailwaySwitches and Crossings, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to monorail roads of the general type in whichthe balance of the cars is maintained by means of an overhead balancerail and a truck, or follower, engaging the rail and mounted on the car.

To provide a switch and crossing guide to be used at junctions andintersections of the tracks is the object of the invention.

The device to be described and shown herewith as an embodiment of theinvention, consists of a fixed crossing or switch guide having guidingsurfaces, preferably forming channels parallel to the balance rails atthe junctions and crossings, and a follower on the truck. The followersengage the channels to support and guide the trucks. They willhereinafter be known as switch or crossing followers, selecting members,or shoes.

hen it is desired to have the direction of the car at a switch varied ondifierent trips, a movable member carrying guiding surfaces may beprovided in connection with the switch guide, and this member is movedto change the direction of the switch channel, or other guide, wherebythe direction taken by the truck is determined.

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention.

Figure 1 is a plan view showing balance rails meeting at a crossing, acrossing guide or selecting member, and selecting followers engaging thecrossing guide. Fig. 2 is a similar plan of a junction or switch inwhich two tracks meet at an angle. Fig. 3 is a transverse section online 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 3, the truck 1 is shown as having a frame 2mounted on the arm 3 by means of the horizontal pivot 4: and thevertical pivot 5, whereby the truck is allowed to swing relatively tothe arm in a vertical and in a horizontal plane. The arm is secured tothe car by means of hinge joints 6 so that it is rigid in a directiontransverse of the car and adapted to swing in a vertical, longitudinalplane. The balance rail 7 is rigidly supported in horizontal positionover the track 10 parallel Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 11, 1909.

Patented Apr. 19, 1910.

Serial No. 471,581.

thereto by a suitable means not shown, and a second balance rail 8 isplaced at right angles to the first similarly supported and overlying atrack 100 which intersects the first track 10. These balance rails arediscontinued adjacent the crossing of their center lines to permit thepassage of the balance trucks in both directions.

The crossing guides 11 which are an important feature of this inventionare formed of a series of horizontally guide members, placed parallel toeach other and to the respective balance rails. The crossing guides areso placed that they form two channels parallel to each balance rail, andone on each side of the rail. The plates forming each channel are brokenat the crossing and spaced longitudinally the width of the channels sothat the channels are unobstructed. The first group of plates, beginningat the left in Fig. 1, consists of four plates, each numbered 12,supported by means of cross bars 1 1 secured to the upper surface of thebalance rail 8, extending transversely thereto. These plates form asection of two channels 27. Each guide plate is attached at its upperedge to the two cross bars, and placed parallel to the balance rail 8,with its groove 9 horizontally and inwardly disposed. At the outerextremity; 2'. 6., the left hand end, the plates are bent out so thatthe mouth of each channel is distended. The extremity of the balancerail 8 at the opposite side of the crossing is provided with cross bars15, similar to the cross bars 1 1, and a group of guide plates 16, fourin number and alined respectively with the plates 12, is secured tothese cross bars. Two cross bars 17 are secured at their extremities tothe nearer bars 14L and 15. A group of four guide plate 18, parallel toeach other and alined each with a plate 12 and a plate 16 of the otherseries, is secured to the cross bars 17. Four guide plates 19 aresecured to the extremity of the guide rail grooved plates, or

7 parallel thereto in a manner similar to Y bars 20 and 22. We havethus, as described, four channels, two of them designated by referencecharacter 20 parallel to each other and to the balance rail 7, one beingon each side of the latter, and two of them also parallel to each otherand numbered 27, parallel to the balance rail 8 and on each side of thesame. The side walls of all the channels are discontinued at thecrossings so that all the channels are unobstructed.

The truck 1 is provided with follower rollers 28, four in number,adapted to engage the balance rails 7 and 8 and with selecting members,or switch and crossing shoes 29, in the form of horizontal platestapered at their extremities, of elongated form and of longitudinalextent greater than the distance between the inner extremities of theplates. The selecting or switch guide to be used where the tracks,instead of crossing, branch or meet at an angle is illustrated in Fig. 2The balance rails 30 and 31 meet at 32 the single balance rail 33. Theserails are, as previously described, discontinued adjacent the junctionto allow passage of the truck in either direction, and we have threepairs of channels, the channels of each pair parallel to each other, onepair 40 being parallel to the rail 1, another pair of channels ll isparallel to the rail 30, and still another pair of channels is parallelto the balance rail 33. The plates forming the channels are joined bysuitable curves so that a truck of the kind described, having guideshoes 29 passing along either ail 30 or 81 will be supported over thejunction by the selecting channels at) or 41 of the rail from which itcomes and the selecting channels 45 of the rail 33 until the rollers ofsuch truck come into engagement with the balance rail 33.

In the operation of my invention, it is ap parent that the truck isnormally supported by the balance rail, but at the crossings orjunctions such balance rail must be discontinued and another element isnecessary to support, as well as guide, the truck. The se lectingchannels, having side plates grooved at 29, as shown in Fig. 3, areengaged by the shoes, the edges of the shoes running in the grooves andthus guided and supported over the junction. It should be noted that theshoes are necessarily of greater longitudinal extent than the openingsin the channel spaces which occur at junctions to admit the passage ofthe truck in either direction, so that the support afforded therefor iscontinuous.

In the modification shown in Fig. 2, the channels 45 are enlarged at theextremities adjacent the junction to permit the truck to be directed onto either rail 30 or 31 by suitable means, consisting of frogs 46 and 47carried by the rod 48 mounted to slide in a. support 4-9 secured to therail 38.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is:

1. In a monorail system, in combination, a balance rail, a balance truckcooperating therewith, selecting means on the truck, and cooperatingstationary selecting means adjacent the path of the truck.

2. In a monorail system, in combination, a balance rail, a balance truckcooperating therewith, selecting means on the truck, and cooperatingstationary selecting means on the balance rail.

3. In a monorail system, in combination, intersecting balance rails, abalance follower, a crossing guide and support, and a crossing follower.

4. In a monorail system, in combination, balance rails meeting at anangle, a balance follower, selecting and supporting means adjacent thejunction, and cooperating selecting and supporting means attached to thefollower.

5. In a monorail, in combination, tracks and balance rails meeting at anangle, a balance follower, selecting means adjacent the junction, andcooperating selecting means attached to the follower.

6. In a monorail system, in combination, intersecting tracks, balancerails parallel to the tracks and also intersecting a balance truck torun on the balance rails, a selecting guide adjacent the intersect-ion,and coop crating selecting members on the truck.

7. In a monorail system, in combination, intersecting tracks, balancerails parallel to the tracks and also intersecting, a balance truck torun on the balance rails, crossing guides for the truck forming channelsparallel to the balance rails adjacent the intersection, and acooperating follower member 011 the truck.

8. In a monorail system, in combination, balance guides meeting at anangle, a balance follower on the ear cooperating with the guides,selecting guiding means adjacent the junction, and selecting meanscontrolling the course of the truck and cooperating with the selectingguiding means at the junction.

9. In a monorail system, in combination, balance guides meeting at anangle, a balance follower on the car cooperating with the guides,crossing guides and supports adjacent the junction, and selecting andsupporting means controlling the course of the truck and cooperatingwith the crossing guides at the junction.

10. In a monorail system, for balancing a car, balance rails meeting atan angle, a balance truck on the car cooperating with the balance rails,selecting guides parallel to the rails adjacent the junction, and aselecting follower on the truck cooperating with the selecting guides todetermine the course of the truck atthe junction.

11. In a monorail system, for balancing a car, balance rails meeting atan angle, a balance truck on the car cooperating with the balance rails,crossing guides parallel to the rails adjacent the junction, and anelongated shoe on the truck cooperating with the crossing guides todetermine the course of the truck at the junction.

12. In a system, in combination for balancing a car, balance guidesmeeting at an angle having external guide surfaces, a bal: ance truckhaving follower surfaces cooperating with the guide surfaces of thebalance guide, a selecting guide near the junction, and a cooperatingguiding member on the truck.

13. In a system, in combination for balancing a car, intersectingbalance guides, a balance follower having a rigid frame cooperating withthe balance guides, selecting guides adjacent the intersection, and 00-operating selecting means connected with the follower to control thecourse of the same.

14:. In a system, in comblnation, balance guides meeting at an angle, abalance truck cooperating therewith, a selecting member havinginternally disposed guiding surfaces adjacent the junction, and aselecting follower on the truck having externally disposed surfaces tocooperate with the guiding surfaces, and selecting members to determinethe course of the truck at the junction, the selecting follower andguiding surfaces being tongued and grooved.

15. In a system, in combination, balance guides meeting at an angle, abalance truck cooperating therewith, a crossing guide member havingguide surfaces parallel to each balance rail adjacent the junction, amember on the truck for controlling its course, at the vertex of theangle, said member having follower surfaces cooperating with the guidesurfaces.

Signed by me at Baltimore, this 24th day of November, 1908.

. HOWARD H. 'IUNIS.

Witnesses:

L. H. LATHAM, S. R. WARNKEN.

Maryland,

